Columns Retired Columns & Blogs |
Mark Levinson No. 29. 50 watts might not sound like a lot of power, but this dual-monural Class-A amp never leaves me wanting for more.
We got a record number of responses last week when we asked readers to share their loudspeaker preferences. Now tell us what <I>drives</I> those speakers.
my poweramp:harman-kardon 16s(150w/c)driving a pair of energy 22.1 with 24" atlantis reference stand and van del hull cable.cd player and processor from mission dad and dac 5.not the best in the world but a lot better than what k-mart sold. love the MUSIC i ear.for now i'm very very happy with it but don't give me 20000$.
I have a Spectral DMA 80 for power and a Spectral DMC12 preamp. The power amp alone is a killer, but when teamed with the DMC12, "magic" is the only adjective that comes to mind. After auditioning everything under the sun, be it valves or solid-state, the "dream team" stole the show. They are the most transparent components I've ever heard, and low-level detail is unparalleled. Imagine the harmonic structure of tubes without the noise or the hassle. They'll also drive any load imaginable without strain or grain. Try that with an SE triode.
Custom-built 20W valve amplifiers by a Toronto-based designer (Joe Rosen), built with my ESL-63s in mind. Everything is done right, with no skimping on the parts quality. I've heard a lot of commercial stuff, but nothing else comes close. When I turn out the lights, it's sonic hologram time. The image floats in 3-D space with dead silence separating each instrument (on a properly miked acoustic recording), with delicacy and detail that have me hearing things in some recordings that I never knew were on the disc.
Classe DR3 Love the midrange on up. A little lacking at the bottom. I tried to replace them a numbeer of times, but nothin' under the price of a BMW will touch these black boxes. Nothin' till I heard the wonderful Sim Audio Moon 5 amps. Not as much depth as the DR3 but everythig else is as good or better. Almost bought the Levinson 33s a while back but even the salesman preferred the transparency of the DR3 over the this over rated Levinsons.